Reader Letters | Military voting, federal cuts, racism

Military voting

Our state Senate should reconsider its recent decision to strip Senate Bill 1 of provisions that would ensure military votes are counted. As a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served two tours in Vietnam and the proud father of a son in the U.S. Air Force who has served in Afghanistan, and is currently stationed in Italy, I know from experience how slow and unreliable overseas mail can be.

As originally filed, SB 1 would greatly improve military and overseas voting by allowing ballots to be returned by electronic transmission and by creating a two-day extension for ballots to be received. The testimony Feb. 21 before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs was compelling while evidence against it was outdated and weak.

According to media reports, Senate President Robert Stivers conferred with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and apparently accepted his advice to take these key provisions out of the bill. We owe our military men and women better. They risk their lives to protect our rights and we cannot stand idly by while some elected officials choose to play games with theirs.

My son lives and serves by the Air Force core values of "integrity first," "service before self" and "excellence in all we do." He and our military men and women have the right to utilize all the available modern technology to make their votes count! It is my fervent hope that the General Assembly will demonstrate the courage to show Senate President Stivers and Sen. McConnell that the rest of Kentucky stands with the military. Pass SB 1 as originally filed.

DON BUTLER

Bowling Green, Ky. 42103 -

Federal cuts

The way they are cutting things around Kentucky may prevent military aircraft from flying in Thunder Over Louisville and there may not be any mail on Saturday. Everyone had money for the new bridge. We cannot get anything done right in Kentucky because the government and the senators all sit on their hands. They are there for themselves, not Kentucky.

DONALD FRADET

Louisville 40214 -

Derriere factor

In response to Joseph Gerth's column about Ashley Judd, it's one thing to show one's derriere in entertaining movies where it seems appropriate and natural in telling the story as opposed to actually being the nucleus of one, which seems to be the majority of our current crop of politicians in Washington.

WES KENDALL

Louisville 40299 -

Don't re-victimize baby

In the Feb. 26 CJ, columnist Leonard Pitts describes a beyond-horrific event on a recent Delta Airlines flight when a passenger allegedly refers to a 19-month-old African American with the n-word, then reaches over, slaps and scratches the baby. There are hardly words to describe how disturbing it is to read of such a violent event against an innocent baby.

But Pitts uses the story to claim that what happened on the plane that day is likely to be just the beginning of the child being attacked in other ways during his life. He predicts that as an African American, in his future, he "is likely to be struck many times in many different ways" and will stand "an excellent chance of being failed in school, denied health care, denied housing, denied work" and will even likely "be steered into the criminal justice system."

I acknowledge that racism is still alive and well in America. Remember the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin or current attempts to limit minority voting. But I can't accept the baby was born a victim. Although I fear that if Pitts convinces the child he has little chance of being successful, the child would then actually be a victim - of victimization. Why should he even try?

Evidently that tall fellow in the White House is African American. In Louisville, our former police chief and the present and past doctors who have headed the health department are African American. There are numerous African American doctors, lawyers, teachers and business executives in Louisville. Kentucky universities are open to students with good grades. Although it's true that African Americans (and Hispanics) are more likely to experience substandard health care, and that's absolutely unacceptable, this disparity is mainly due to lack of adequate health insurance among low-income Americans, not a denial of care because of race.

What happened to our baby on that plane is a reflection that racism still exists in America but instead of convincing the child and other minorities that they will be "denied" at every turn, we must have the highest expectations for them. All of our children need to believe that the path out of poverty is a good education. A good education leads to good jobs and professions for Americans of all colors and access to decent health care, housing and yes, Mr. Pitts, even the loans that you say you fear our baby will be denied.

MARGE MANKE

Louisville 40204 -

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Reader Letters | Military voting, federal cuts, racism

Our state Senate should reconsider its recent decision to strip Senate Bill 1 of provisions that would ensure military votes are counted. As a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served two tours in